nanke's stuff

Yesterday my good friend Vicki and I went to Hollanders  www.hollanders.com (I don't know how to do that "click on it and you go there"  thing so I have to put in the url) which is a spectacular paper store in Ann Arbor and took a class on how to make a concertina book.  It was taught by Christine Reising and David Burkam ( moonmothpress.etsy.com ) and they were just wonderful.  The idea was to use a found book, remove the spine and replace it with an accordian folded spine, and replace the inside with new signatures made with art paper.  The paper we used for the new signatures is called Somerset (I think that's how it's spelled) and it comes from England.  I was initially going to bring my own paper to do the signatures because I want to be able to use watercolor in this book, but then I decided that since the cost of the paper was included in the price, I'd rather try out a new paper.   I knew I'd be making another concertina book and I can use my own paper in that one.  After I try out the new paper, I'll let you know what I think of it.

Besides being most excellent and patient teachers, they brought many examples of books they've made (and sell on their Etsy site), and I have to tell you, those books were absolutely spectacular!  One of them even had a beautiful handmade fabric bag to hold it that was just so lovely.  I wanted them all!

My book is very modest - I just couldn't find anything in my stash that was really interesting that I wanted to cut apart.  But, I don't really mind all that much since it's my first one and I didn't have to worry about ruining it.  So, here it is!

In Sept. 2008 I was invited to participate in a round robin based on the book True Colors.  There were 9 of us, and we each chose a color, made a book, did the first spread (with an explanation as to why we chose the colors we did), and sent it off to the next person on the list.  Well, after all this time, it's winding down.  I spent the day today finishing the last spread in the last book I have to work in, and I have mine back!  I thought I'd  show you the cover of the book I made, the explanation of my color choice, and the spread I did in it.  If you'd like, over time I'll post pictures of the other spreads in my book.  They're all wonderful, and I just love my book.  The long wait was definitely worth it!